Thursday, April 30, 2015

April is a changeable month on the High Plains next to the Rockies;and this year it seems that change is everywhere:weather, landscapes, life style.

Flowers

With Terry's retiring, the schizophrenic weather, and my rapidly changing neighborhood,it's been so unsettled that I hunted down all the photos for February instead of April.I thought the categories had a familiar ring!LOL!

Fresh Snow on New Leaves

A Corner of My Home

So now, with the end of the month bearing down,it has been raining for several days.

A Gentle Spring Rain

Welcome Rain in a Dry Land

So I'll have to see what I can find in the photos I've already taken this month!And share some major changes taking place around me.

For almost a year now, whenever I walked on the prairie,I've been playing a game.I've been carefully averting my eyesand looking from selected angles,so I can pretend that what was still is.

New Growth

I can walk on the prairie and see the first flushof color in the bushes and new leaves on the cottonwoods.

But, like it or not, change is comingwith a different form of growth.

A Starkly Beautiful and Haunting Landscape
With a Hint of What is Coming

Feet

These feetmay be gentle ...

But these are not.

My prairie world has literally been turned upside down.

Upside Down

Almost everywhere I look,from horizon to horizon,the high plains' prairie isbeing transformed into housing.

Clouds above.

Earthmovers below.

Along the tributaries of Piney Creek,you can still find pockets of unripped ground.

The Sweet Green of Baby Leaves

Along the banks in reeds

and among the prairie grasses

you can still hear the chuck-trill of the redwings

and the sweet song of the meadowlarks.

SweetBirds

I've spent time sitting in this chair this month

watching the big machines work.

Chair

I'm thankful that the economy is improving,and I'm thankful that well-paying construction jobs are coming back.Whenever I walk by the sitesand watch the men at work,they wave at me through their glass windows.

When I was a small child,I loved the story of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Mary Anne.At least one copy of thisclassic children's bookwas in a bookcase inone of our bedroomsduring my childhood.

It's hard to resist watching a big shovel at work!

With each shovel bite and bulldozer load,

infrastructure for future homes is laid.

A development takes shape step by step.

A Rain of Dirt Covers Pipe for New Homes

Despite my sadness at the disappearing prairie,I can't resist returning over and over to watch.

Some things make me laugh, like this bright collection of honey pots on a trailerwaiting to be placed for the convenienceof the construction workers;just imagine bumping and banging aroundin that heavy machinery all day!

The honey pots on a trailer make me thinkof an Easter basket filled with bright eggs.

One item left on my changes scavenger hunt:Whatever You Want.Here are some of those February items,I collected thinking they were for April!A new road takes shape along a walking trail.

Friday, April 24, 2015

Fifty years ago two events loomed largein isolated, fly-in communities throughout northern Ontario,throughout all of the Canadian north for that matter:the annual freeze-up and break-upDuring these times bush planescould not fly in or out of places like Lansdowne House, and shortwave radio provided the only contact withThe Outside.

To land, a bush plane requireda stretch of open wateror thick ice.While the ice was freezing or melting,people were essentially cut-off from The Outside.If a person needed to get in or outduring freeze-up or break-up,he faced a long, hard, wilderness journeywith a dog team, a canoe, or both.For most people this was not possible.

As long as a person didn't have a medical emergency,these freezing and melting periods were inconvenient:no supplies, no mail, no visitors.You had what you had, and you made do.As either period approached,the big questions were when and how long.Everyone was guessing, speculating,especially those for whom it was the first time.

My father looked at the worsening weatherand approaching freeze-up with a mixtureof fascination and trepidation.

On Monday, October 17, 1960 My father wrote:How’s everyone tonight?I had a new experience today, and let me tell you something. You just haven’t lived till you have tried paddling a canoe in a snowstorm. It snowed on and off all day today, but it always seemed to be snowing whenever I had to cross the water in the canoe. When I got to school though, it always cleared and stayed pretty well clear till it was time for another canoe trip.

It was on but good when I started going home at noon.It was snowingand blowing so hard when I started across that I couldn’t see the island; and when I gotabout the middle, I couldn’t see either shore.

I was scared for a while that I might be blown out on the lake or something, so I just prayed and paddled like hell. I was even tempted to say a couple of ‘Hail Marys,’ seeing as my roommate and landlord have such faith in them. However, as you can see, I arrived safe and sound; and by the time I had to go back, it had cleared to the extent that I could see the mainland from the island.It won’t be too long before it freezes from the look of things. Any water that splashes into the canoe the last couple of days has frozen in the bottom.The top edge and the sides of the canoe above the waterline are quite heavily encrusted with ice. I’ll have to get a de-icer like an airplane if I am not careful.The water fascinates me these days. It is so cold that the water is sort of viscous like maple syrup or thin molasses. It doesn’t run off the paddle like it normally does, but sort of oozes off like maple syrup would ooze off a knife.

The paddle even seems to move through the water less freely than normally. The Father tells me that this is a sure sign that freeze-up is not too far off.

I see that I have made a few mistakes in spelling. Some of them, like ‘watter,’ are typographical errors; but others I must take full credit for. Oh but I wish that Sara was here to tell me how to spell certain words.

Uno is making like Rembrandt tonight and is trying to paint a picture.

This wouldn’t be so bad, except he has been trying to paint the same damned picture ever since I arrived. I am getting sick of the sight of it and would like to see him start something else for a change.Today was the first day back at school after the flu, and my goodness, but you’d think it was the first day again. Three days away from those Indian children, and I have lost all the ground that I had gained in overcoming their shyness. I sometimes wonder if I will overcome it.We lit the big stove last night for the first time in an effort to keep the cottage warm all night. It isn’t very nice getting up in a house that is as cold as charity. I think, though, that we have a lot to learn about regulating it, for we nearly roasted for the first part of the night, and by morning the fire was burned out, and it was as cold as ever here this morning. Oh well, we have the whole winter to learn, haven’t we?

Well, I guess that winds it up for tonight.Bye now,Love, Don.I'm laughing as I think of all the yearsI shared a small bedroom and/or a bedwith my sister Donnie ~ We had our testy moments too! Well, I guess that winds it up for me tonight also!

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

This was the first time since the Ever-Patient retired that he didn't have to commute a long way over stressful, snowy roads to get to work.He took one look at the wet snowand the freezing fog,ran to the bedroom,jumped into bed,and pulled the covers over his head.

Yes, Paradise is transforming with development,as people flockto Honolulufrom all corners of the globe.

Yes, at first I turned my nose upat the throngs of people in, on, beside, and along those smooth, glassy waves.Really? This is how you choose to spend your precious vacation days?But then I began to look a little closerand dig a little deeper.Camera in hand, I became a hunterstalking the city and shore.I began to explore with an open mind,and I discovered a city and strandwith all kinds of fascinating things.

I discovered other hunters stalking Waikiki.

Come see what I found in the heart of the huge, crowded, and busyHilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort.